Trade Review

This searing and serious film offers more than a bleak portrait of man's inhumanity.

The older I get and the more movies I watch, the more I realize that realism is overrated. There's always something to be said about a filmmaker who opts for cinematic authenticity, but more often as not "the truth" tends to get in the way of telling a good story. All of which is why Trade is a transcendent rather than merely tragic film; even though it chronicles the brutal world of sex trafficking, Marco Kreuzpaintner's first English-language effort knows better than to just be a graphic document of man's inhumanity to man. Rather, it offers a complex and deeply emotional portrait of hope regained in the face of the worst circumstances imaginable.

Based on a New York Times story, Trade follows a young girl named Adriana who is kidnapped in Mexico City and sold into a sex-slave ring. Though her brother Jorge (Cesar Ramos) is a ne'er-do-well who tricks tourists out of their pesos, he quickly assumes responsibility for finding her and follows her -- illegally -- into the United States. Though her captors treat her poorly, Adriana finds comfort in the companionship of an older kidnap victim named Veronica (Alicja Bachleda).

Meanwhile, Jorge is apprehended by a Texas cop named Ray (Kevin Kline), who believes the boy's story and eventually agrees to help him find his sister. Eventually, Jorge and Ray follow Adriana all the way to New Jersey where she is to be sold off in an online auction, and soon realize that the only way to rescue her may be to destroy the cycle of exploitation and degradation from within -- by pretending to be the exact kind of predator who would casually buy or sell another human being.

Predictably, Trade is fairly short on laughs. But as unrelenting as is the tragedy that runs through the story, there is a sense of real humanity tying together the characters, even some of the kidnappers, which translates effectively with the audience. In particular, the decision to focus on a number of victims rather than just one not only reflects a more realistic portrayal of the sex-slave trade -- suffice it to say I know nothing about the subject, but it would make sense for traffickers to move multiple "candidates" at the same time -- but it offers a more inclusive connection for different kinds of viewers.

Adriana's compromised innocence and Veronica's defeated self-preservation both highlight the physical and emotional toll that the horrible experience takes upon them, at different stages of their lives, creating an uncomfortable but necessary identification between the audience and the issue being explored, much less these poor women themselves.

The only moment the film falls short of its dramatic goals is during a speech Kline gives towards the end of the film, when he not only reveals his own motivations for helping Jorge but highlights the global issues that make sex trafficking possible. But this heavy-handed speechifying is only a temporary digression from what is an otherwise very personal and deeply-felt story. Kline anchors the film as the lawman whose tormented acceptance of his own past informs his present and future decisions, while Ramos offers a powerfully effective turn as a kid outraged enough to be moved to action by his sister's kidnapping, but immature and unresourceful enough to do anything about it. And finally as Veronica, Bachleda gives a devastating performance as a woman whose dreams of finding a better life in America are quickly dashed when she discovers she's been deceived and her family effectively destroyed by one unfortunate decision.

Overall Trade will have an uphill battle finding an audience that actively wants to see it, but it's absolutely an experience worth having. As suggested above, the film does have an at least moderately happy ending, which is revealed not to spoil anything about the story (which it doesn't) but to indicate that if you decide you want to watch this film about sex trafficking it's not completely and irredeemably bleak. That said, if you're a viewer whose enjoyment of a story is directly proportionate to the amount of accuracy or authenticity with which it is told -- or in this case, the likelihood of a positive outcome is slim -- then this is not the sex trafficking film for you. But personally I prefer to watch a movie that offers at least a glimmer of hope rather than one that revels in the sad and pessimistic truth that sometimes happy endings are, well, unrealistic.